It's a beautiful summer day. Dad and his 10-week-old son Ryan are
relaxing on a blanket outside. Dad leans over Ryan and smiles and
coos happily as his baby looks up at him. Baby smiles and dad is
thrilled. Suddenly, the family dog bounds into this perfect world,
disturbing the moment and knocking over a glass of lemonade. Not
pleased, dad immediately turns to the dog, shouts at him, and
shoos him away. As he turns back to his baby, an expression of
anger is still on his face. Ryan looks at his dad's face and
begins to cry. Dad immediately senses his baby’s reaction. He
scoops him up, cuddles him and soothes away his tears.
What happened there? Was Ryan’s smile a real expression of
contentment or was he simply mirroring his dad’s facial
expression? Was Ryan’s response to his dad’s anger a real
emotional reaction? What do babies feel and when do they start to
feel it?
Emotions start early.
Infants are emotional beings right from birth. In fact, emotions are
biologically based, and are built into children’s brains, and help them
connect to caregivers (National Scientific Council on the Developing
Child,
2004). Human beings are truly born to feel!
But when do children begin to feel emotions and what do they feel? Right
from birth infants experience several basic or primary emotions. During the
first six months of life, as the infant makes cognitive gains, these basic
emotions develop into more sophisticated emotions. Thus, over time, a young
child’s repertoire of emotions continues to grow (Lewis, 2000).
The primary emotions and their development during the first six months of
life are mapped in the chart below. At birth there are several basic
emotions that infants experience. But over the course of the first six
months of life, infants begin to experience more complex emotions. And with
each passing year their emotional repertoire grows. For instance, two to
three year old children begin to experience embarrassment, pride, shame and
guilt (Lewis, 2000).
How do scientists
study infant emotions?
Infants can’t talk about their emotions—at least not yet! So, to find
out about young children’s emotions, researchers created experiments
that examined how babies respond to the emotional expressions they see
and hear in other people. Would the babies react to another person’s
emotions? Would they copy the emotions they saw?
Little expressions
can show big feelings.
Humans are born to feel and infant expressions reflect inner emotions
or feelings. Infants also watch and respond to our emotions. Spend lots
of time interacting with your baby, learning what she is trying to tell
you about how she feels.
Helpful Parenting Tips
Smile, laugh, talk, sing and read together every day.
Play face-to-face games, like peek-a-boo, with your infant. Keep your face about 8 to 18 inches from your baby’s face.
Your baby is reading your face. Be aware that your angry or sad face will affect how your baby reacts.
Pay attention to your baby’s emotional expressions and respond to them.
When you respond to your baby’s emotional needs, he learns that he can count on you and he learns to connect with you.
Watch and learn how your baby’s emotions develop over time.
You and your baby are discovering more about each other every day
and it’s
an exciting adventure. Have fun… it will show on your face!
References:
Haviland, J. M., &
Lelwica, M. (1987). The induced affect response: 10-week-old
infants'
responses to three emotion expressions. Developmental Psychology,
23(1), 97-104.
Lewis, M. (2000).
The emergence of human emotions. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones
(Eds.), Handbook of emotions (2nd ed., pp. 265-280). New York:
Guilford Press.
National
Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2004). Children’s
emotional development is built into the architecture of their
brain: Working Paper No. 2. Retrieved October 4, 2005 from http://www.developingchild.net/reports.shtml.
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Child,
2004). Human beings are truly born to feel!
Smile, laugh, talk, sing and read together every day.
